Roubo-and not a bench

[greg Forster]

I've been searching for a nice quality "Roubo" marquetry saw for awhile and finally got lucky.345508 345506345507





Ogee file-work at handle is a later,but old embellishment , work at the inside radius is original 345509

[Reinis Kanders]

Nice details!

[Glen Canaday]

Wow, that is a seriously beautiful fret saw. Congratulations on a great find! I'm a little bit jealous!

I can do the metalwork, but I need a lathe.

[Mike Allen1010]

Greg that is serious to the best tool Claude I've seen in a long time – congratulations!


Does it have any kind of manufacturers market? With that level of detail I'm wondering if that was a shop built tool?


All the best, Mike

[george wilson]

Very nice saw. Beautifully detailed,even in the corners of the saw frame. The English call those Morris saws. We made a few of those for the Cabinet Shop When I was Tool Maker.

Now all you have to do is learn how to file your OWN saw blades out of watch springs ! Strange that making those saws wasn't a separate trade. Wonder why Roubo didn't show the required wrench? You can easily make one. It probably will last a good while without being hardened if you aren't able to do that. But,if you AT LEAST make it from 01 steel,it will be tougher than plain mild steel,even in its unhardened state.

To file their own blades from watch springs,they developed a little process: The spring had to be clamped in a carefully maintained crisp and accurate wide jawed vise,made of wood with metal jaws. The filer would file a tooth,then,with the blade still engaged in the cut,he would move the handle a few degrees(Or PART of a degree!) over. Then,he'd hold the part of the file down nearest to the handle,lift up the part of the blade that had filed the saw tooth. He would then straighten the file back to a 90º angle across the vise. This little movement would have moved the file over far enough to file the next tooth. They got very proficient at this-they HAD to! There was no set in the saw's teeth. They just left "The rag of the saw" to provide a cut a tiny bit wider than the saw blade for clearance.

This whole process was fraught with possible failures: The watch spring might have a silicon inclusion or a soft spot which could break,wasting the effort of all that filing. Until crucible steel was invented in the latter part of the 18th. C.,carburized wrought iron was what they had to use. Indeed,Benjamin Huntsman started out as a watch maker who became frustrated with the uneven quality of watch springs. He developed the means to even out the carbon distribution in steel,and to get rid of the silicon inclusions. Having done that,he had a unique product that was in the highest demand. He then proceeded to make high carbon steel ingots in crucibles in his apparently spacious back yard! The baskets of wrought iron,coke,and everything else had to be carried through his house,making a horrible mess ! Must have driven his wife crazy unless she was a natural born slob!!!

Huntsman was able to keep his secret until he took pity on a bum and hired him. The bum turned out to be an industrial spy who. Then,his secrets were sold to others. I hope the inventor had gotten rich by then,but I have no information on that.

[greg Forster]

Mike- I'm sure these saws were not "user-made", I've seen photos of several early marquetry saws with very similar appearance; the design for tightening the blade is overly complicated. I wonder what it was derived from?; I doubt this was developed solely for this type of saw.

another example 346386



George, I have a Zapart Saw Filer my father bought at auction sometime back in the '60s; it works with two adjustable stops, you hold the file against one stop, file that tooth, then, leaving the file in the gullet , slide the file and sawblade over to the other stop. then lift the file and return to the first stop, file next tooth and repeat.
The filer is adjustable in 3-axis (I hope I'm using that term correctly).
Picture of miter saw I re-cut to 4TPI for a "Roubo" saw with Zapart filer; a person could do this with their eyes shut; 14 TPI requires a bit of concentration.

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I don't have the sawblade carriage shown in these pictures; its a fixed frame with a sliding frame (holds the saw) . I also rigged up a carriage to make planemaker's floats- edge floats and side floats

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